Hell Knows No Bounds As We Live, Nor When We Die
by RaeLynn Hikari
Summary: VincentO.C Vincent (Courtney) Zeke is an 18 year old girl who wants something more then her boring life. So when her friend illegally gets a new FF7 game for the computer, she's sucked right into the game! But is this just a coincidence, or is there more to Courtney? This story takes place after the events of Dirge of Cerberus.
1. Chapter 1

Hell Knows No Bounds As We Live, Nor When We Die.

By: RaeLynn Hikari

**Courtney**

I was on my way home from yet another grueling day of school. Once again I was dreading the hours of homework I had from all of my advanced classes. Thank the mighty heavens above that this was my senior year. At 18 years old, I didn't see the need to be schooled anymore. I just wanted to drink, party, and leave my boring life in the small town of Bremerton, Washington. Now, don't get me wrong. B-Town isn't that bad. I go see the local shows, go to the mall, hang with my friends outside, but I get tired of the same old days. I wake up, go to school, come home, chores, homework, dinner, more homework, and bed. But tonight was going to be different.

I wasn't going to do my homework, it could wait. Tonight, something great was coming. Finally, after waiting for years since the last game was released, a new Final Fantasy 7 game is out! But this one's different. The game's like the more recent Final Fantasy games. You know; all the online features and stuff. From what I've heard, you get to do all sorts of cool things to make your character look just like you. It had a character editing system similar to that of Skyrim or Dragon's Dogma.

My friend, Chris, got the game illegally. He was booting it up on his computer while I was at school, and then sending the link to our best friend Chandler, as well as myself. Chris and Chandler have been going out since I was a sophomore. And yes, Chandler is a girl. Nobody really knows what her real name is, but she says that your birth name is trivial, and what really matters is what name you make of yourself. I don't really agree, but she's an interesting character none the less. The two of them have been out of school for two year now, making them seniors when I was a sophomore. They're my main source of all that is bad for humanity; beer, cigarettes, and the sorts. I'm really a good kid though, honestly. I just like to let loose here and there. What was really important is that...

This game will be my escape from my bored reality. 

I finally get home from school and drop off my stuff. I start to do the daily chores around the house and run into my mom.

"You have homework?" My mother asks me.

"Nope. I've just got to finish my book." I could hear my mom laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You always say that, but it's just surprising on how many advance classes you have, but how little homework you actually have. I'm telling you now, I ain't payin for college, so you better keep up on your grades."

After vacuuming, I told my mom that I was off to read and not to worry about dinner for me. She looked at me confused for a second, but shrugged it off. I went into my room, listening to the rain slowly start to fall. I booted up my laptop and turned out the lights. I sat on my full sized bed, which was against the wall covered in various band posters, female models, and pictures of my friends and I. Looking at the poster of the whole FF7 gang from Advent Children, which hung above my bed, I smiled as I gazed into the eyes of my favorite character, Vincent Valentine.

Finally my computer finished loading up and I placed my gaming headphones on. I went to my e-mail and clicked on the link Chris sent me. I could hear the rain steadily fall faster and I could have sworn that it thundered.

"Thunder in Washington? Highly unlikely." I said to myself, "And is it really THAT dark outside? It's only 5 o'clock in April."

"Courtney?" I heard a girl's voice inside my headphones.

"Courtney here. Hi Chandler!"

"Alrighty, girls. Fill in your info and shit and let's get this party started!" Chris exclaimed. I looked at my screen and saw an all black page with just a small screen you enter all your information. I filled out all my information except my name.

Eyes: Greenish blue

Hair color: Black streaks, blonde underside, brown main color

Hair length: Shoulder

Height: 5'5"

Birthday: February 29, 1991

Age: 18

Name:

"Oh, and Courtney? You need to enter your REAL name." Chris told me. I did as I was told.

Name: Vincent May Zeke

"Ugg I hate my real name." I said.

"Yeah, but this time you can't use your gamer name. This game has a feature that helps decide your fate based on your name"

"Why do you get upset when we call you by your real name?" Chris asked.

"Cause Vincent is a boy's name."

"But you loooove Vincent Valentine, so why wouldn't you want to be called that?!" Chandler gasped in fake shock.

"Because "Vincent" is a guys' name. I happen to be a girl last time I checked. I just get upset when I'm called "Vincent" because my mom and dad were stupid to name me before they found out what sex I was. Just because a fortune-teller tells you your first child is going to be a boy doesn't mean you should just name a baby before they're born." I looked at the screen and it started to turn a bright blue color.

"Sweet! Here we go!" Chandler yelled. I smiled when all of a sudden; I heard the carbon monoxide detector beep. That meant that the storm raging outside made the power go off. A flash of lightning shinned in the distance outside my window.

"Shit." I muttered.

"Vincent? You need a light? My mom asked through the door.

"No, Mom. I'm good. I'm looking up a few things on my laptop, so I have a light."

"Well, your dad wanted to go out on a date night for some reason, so he and I are going out for dinner and a movie."

"Mom, have you not seen the weather outside? Why the hell would you wanna go out?

"Don't question the methods of your father..." My mom said with a sigh.

"...Love you mom." I don't think she heard me due to another rumble of thunder. My parents are weird, going out on a date in this weather. Maybe it was just the storm that made one feel odd. The low rumbling of outside was drowned out by a soft piano playing into the headphones.

"Aww...Aerith's theme song..." Chandler said. I looked back at my screen and saw a picture of a girl standing there waving at me.

I spent a few minutes working with the character editing profile, and soon enough I had a character who looked creepily a lot like me. "_I guess this works for me... Weird that how I got my character to look just like me so easlily. I spend copious amounts of time on other games, and can't get the damn person to look anything like me_" I thought. The following text popped up on my screen:

Hell knows no bounds as we live

It knows no bounds when we die

Enter into this world where life grows

The lifestream calls to you

Will you fight for what's worth fighting for?

"What the hell?" I could hear Chris say.

"I don't know." Chandler said. "The lifestream calls to you?"

We all were silent as the screen moved as if it were real. The last thing I remember is lightning striking so brightly, I couldn't see a thing. Everything went blank...

**Vincent**

I was walking back from the place where Lucrecia was. It was about a year since I found out everything; everything about my father, how Chaos came to be, how Sepheroth came to be, and how much my life was screwed up. Though my heart has finally started to heal, I can't ever forgive myself for who I was.

"Vincent Valentine."

I turned around to see a friendly face. Shelke was quite the character. She used to be part of a gang called Deepground. Deepground was an organization that caused much havoc and showed me who I truly am. Shelke eventually came over to the side fighting Deepground because of her sister Shelua.

"Shelke."

I could hear her take a deep breath before speaking.

"Tifa requests your presence at 7th Heaven. A storm is coming and she's worried about you. We're all worried about you."

I stared at Shelke for awhile, trying to think of something to say.

"Tell Tifa I'll be there."

Shelke smiled slightly and nodded.

"Don't forget about your friends, Vincent Valentine." And with that she walked off.

I sighed and looked to the sky. Though it was semi-clear, you could tell something was going on. I turned to follow Shelke, but she was no where to be seen.

"Hmmm."

After traveling for about an hour, I made it to Midgar. By this time the rain was steadily falling down and you could hear thunder rumbling in the background. As I walked down an abandoned street, the first flash of lightning struck. I pulled the collar to my cape up more to cover my face as a homeless person stared at me. I threw a couple of Gil at the person, and they smiled at me. I just continued to walk. Coming to an intersection, I got an odd feeling. So I pulled out Death Penalty and held it to my side. A flash of lightning blinded me for a moment. I held Cerberus tighter and waited for my sight to come back.

The ambush I was waiting for never happened. I cursed quietly to myself when I heard a scream. I ran down an alleyway to see a girl sitting on the ground with a baffled look on her face. Her mouth was hung slightly opened as she yelled the names "Chris" and "Chandler". I walked over to the dumbfounded girl and pointed my gun at her.

"Who are you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Courtney**

"Holy. Crap," I gasped when I could see. I looked around at the town and smiled.

"_It's Midgar! Damn this game is real_," I though to myself. I gasped at the realism of the destroyed city. I could feel the wet, cold ground underneath me, the rain hitting my face, the water soaking me.

"Wait. I can feel the water, the ground, and the cold. This isn't how a game's suppose to be. What the fuck is going on here?!" I yelled and started to panic.

"Chris? Chandler?!" Suddenly I heard a gun cock and a deep voice ask,

"Who are you?" I looked to my side and just about died. There he was. Mr. Vincent Valentine himself. With his mid back length ebony hair drenched from the rain, his crimson jacket billowing gently in the wind, his body in its black leather, his golden clawed left hand and golden pointed boots, his gun, Cerberus, pointed at my forehead. But his eyes, his dark, blood colored eyes. They pierced me as if he was looking into the depths of my soul.

"No fucking way," I said under my breath.

"What did you say?!" Vincent asked me in a blood chilling voice. I was frozen in place and stupidly blushed slightly.

"Umm…I'm…Umm… Deeerrrrppp?" His eyes just bore into me while the fan girl inside me squealed in delight.

"I don't care. Just tell me who you are." I paused to collect my thoughts and to word what I was going to say correctly. I was still overwhelmed by the fact that I was possibly, and most likely, inside the game.

"I'm new here and I'm lost. I need a place to stay for the night so I can find my friends and figure this place out." Vincent didn't move for a minute or two before lowering his gun.

"Follow me." He turned around and started to walk. I slowly got up and ran to catch up with him. I followed him through the back alleyways of Midgar, neither of us speaking. I noticed that there were construction sites where the people of Midgar were trying to get everything back in order from Meteorfall and the Deepground assault. I was glad for the people being able to live their normal lives. I hoped nothing bad happens to them. They've already been through a lot. We continued walking, the rain and the occasional thunder making noise.

"So," I spoke.

"Why did you lower your gun so fast? How do you know I'm not going to kill you here and now?" Vincent didn't speak for a bit. A calico kitten started to follow us and I picked it up, warming its soaked body with my own.

"Are you going to kill me?" I turned my head and looked at Vincent.

"Huh? Oh. No, just asking," I responded.

"I could tell you weren't lying." I smiled and felt the kitten start to purr.

"Aw what a cute little guy you are. What should I name you?" The kitten just looked at me. We continued walking; Vincent, the kitten, and myself.

"We're here," Vincent spoke. I looked up and saw a sign that said, "7th Heaven and Strife Delivery Service." I smiled and followed Vincent inside. The kitten mewed and I heard a girl squeal in delight.

"Vincent! We missed you!" I smiled as a girl no older then seven ran up and gave Vincent a big hug. Vincent placed his non-clawed hand on the girl's shoulder.

"I missed you to, Marlene." Marlene had a simple white sleeveless dress on with floral designs on it. Her dark brown hair was pulled back with a shiny red ribbon. Marlene looked up at Vincent with a toothless smile.

"Look, Vincent! I lost a tooth! Cloud helped me pull it out cause Daddy wasn't here." Vincent had a ghost of a smile on his face.

"This means you're growing up, Marlene." Marlene smiled in delight.

"Someday I'm going to be as big as Tifa!" I smiled and the kitten jumped from my arms and started to rub itself on Marlene's leg.

"Hello kitty! What's your name?"

"I haven't named it yet, but he seems like he likes you. You can have him if you want him." Marlene gave me a large smile and squeezed my legs in an embrace.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Miss Pretty Lady!" I laughed and patted her shoulders.

"It's nothing. So, what's your name?"

"Marlene. What's your name?" I took a quick glance at Vincent as my face went blank.

"Umm how about we go and see if you can keep the kitty first?" I asked, voice shaking slightly.

"Okay! Come with me!" Marlene grabbed my hand and pulled me into a backroom. My wet shoes squeaked across the floor as I followed Marlene. I could hear the clanking of Vincent's boots with each step he took behind us.

"Tifa!" Marlene stopped behind a woman with mid back length black hair. She wore a simple short black skirt, a black tank top, black boots, and a white apron. Tifa turned and looked at me.

"Hello. I'm Tifa. I co-run the bar and delivery service with my friend Cloud. It seems like Marlene has found a new friend. Why don't you come with me and introduce yourself to everyone else here." I looked at Vincent. His facial feature hadn't changed from when I last looked at him. I blushed and turned back to Tifa.

"Sure, why not?" I followed Marlene and Tifa into another backroom where the rest of the famous Final Fantasy 7 gang was hanging out.

"_I'm pretty sure my inner fan girl is going to explode in a joyous burst of confetti, but __I need to figure out what's going on and why I'm stuck in this game. So I guess hanging out with them for awhile won't hurt._" I snickered while thinking to myself. Vincent walked up next to me and nodded his head as Yuffie waved at him.

"Hiya, Vinnie! Long time no see!" Yuffie wore simple white short shorts with a green pouch attached to them. She had on a black halter top held up with a single strap. She had on her signature headband on, barely showing through her long black bangs. Her hair just brushed up against the nape of her neck. A man with spiky blonde hair walked over and placed his hand on Vincent's shoulder.

"Nice to see you again, Vincent." The spiky blonde said.

"Good to see you too, Cloud." Vincent said. Cloud had on dark blue baggy pants held up by a black studded belt. The bottoms of his pants were tucked into black shit-kickers that had silver plating on the tips of them. He wore a sleeveless black turtle neck that had silver vertical stripes on it.

"Whoa! Vincent's back!"

"And he brought a lady friend!" I turned my head to see two scruff looking guys staring at me. One had dark skin and a metal arm up to his elbow. His black hair was in a buzz cut and his beard was in the same fashion. He wore a plain white tank top and black pants with black boots.

The other scruffy man had blonde hair up in a faux hawk style with a band around his head holding what seemed to be his smokes. He wore clothes similar to the other man. I instantly knew that these guys were Barrett and Cid, but everyone else didn't know that I knew.

"Hey, Daddy, look! The pretty girl next to Vincent brought a kitten and she said I could keep it! So, can I keep it?" I blushed as everyone turned their eyes towards me.

"Pretty? Ha," I said under my breath. I waved nervously as Barrett beckoned me over to his group.

"So, Miss Pretty Lady, Marlene tells me that you brought her a cat. Is this true?"

"Well," I stuttered.

"I found that cat along the way, and I can't keep it, so I gave it to her. And I'm not really pretty, just some girl."

Barrett busted out laughing so loud, that I actually jumped back and screamed.

"BAH! Not pretty?! Shit girl, have you looked in the mirror recently?" You're pretty damn hot, and I think Vinny will agree. He's been looking at you this whole time!" I blushed and collected myself and sat down on a nearby crate. "_OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG Vincent's been looking at me?! Shit what do I do?! Calm down girl, calm down, focus on the task at hand. Chandler would kill me if she knew that I had forgotten about her because of my inner otaku._'

"So, you haven't told us your name yet. What is it?" I turned towards Cloud and smiled slightly.

"Well, it's not your typical girl's name. My parents named me before I was born."

"So? Your name can't be THAT bad. It's not like some guy's name or something." I turned to Yuffie and looked at her.

"It is. Isn't it?" Yuffie asked. I sighed and took a deep breath.

"It's not a bad name, mind you. I'm actually quite fond of it. It's just that somebody else in this room has it as well." Marlene ran over to me and hopped into my lap.

"I'll be pretty no matter what." She said. I smiled and looked around. I took a deep breath and said,

"Well, everyone, my real name is Vincent."


	3. Editor's Note

Hello everybody! RaeLynn here. Just wanted to let you all know that I've made a few changed to the first two chapters due to it being quite awhile since I've been on here. It's not major changes, but a few of the character's names have changed, as well as a few minor details. Don't worry, if you don't wanna go back to the first two chapter's that's fine, you should be able to easily figure out the details. Hope you all look forward to the next installments coming up!

Regards,

RaeLynn Hikari 3


	4. Chapter 3

**Courtney**

I looked at the people around me, waiting for a reaction. "_Great, my name never ceases to amaze people..._" Nobody said anything until Barrett busted out laughing, tears flowing from his eyes

"Holy shit girl, you weren't kidding! That's classic! Vincent bringing home another Vincent!" I looked at him coldly and explained the fortune teller story to everybody.

"Well it's not a bad name, thing'll just get confusing if we have two Vincents around here, so do you go by another name by any chance?" Tifa smiled.

"Yeah, I go by Courtney." Thunder rumbled in the background, and Marlene hugged me close to her. I stroked her hair to try and comfort the girl.

"Thanks, Courtney," Marlene softly said. Yuffie hopped over to me, a grin on her face, and mischief in her eyes.

"Soooo Courtney, where do you come from? Why are you here? What's your family like? Are you single?" I started to feel overwhelmed and was unsure how to answer her. I didn't want to tell anybody that I was really from the real world, and that I somehow got sucked into this hacked video game that my friend downloaded. I don't think they all would have taken to me kindly if I told them that they were all fake characters made up by developers in Japan. I turned my gaze to Tifa and pleaded with my eyes for her to help me.

"Yuffie," Tifa said. "Cut Courtney some slack. She just got here and she doesn't need to tell us all the details of her life." Tifa stood up from her spot, and started to walk out of the room.

"I'm gonna go get a guest room set up for you, Courtney, so why don't you stay here for the night, and keep out of the rain. Vincent, I'll get you one ready as well."

"I don't have any money-err I mean Gil." Tifa smiled at me and said,

"Don't worry about it, it's on the house. If you feel bad about it though, I could always use some help around here tomorrow..." I nodded in agreement and started to idly chat with Yuffie and the rest of the gang, who where trying to still pry out information about me. I looked over at Vincent who had stood up and started to follow Tifa out of the room. I was curious as to why he was leaving, or perhaps my inner fangirl was sad at him leaving, but Cid kept trying to get me to sing since I had slipped up and said I won the talent show for singing when I was 12. This was going to be a long night, but I couldn't be more excited.

**Vincent**

I followed Tifa out of the room and into the upstairs of the bulding, where the guest bedrooms were located.

"Tifa, I don't need a room for myself. Can you get one of the rooms with double beds set up instead?" She put her hands on her hips and gave me a stern look.

"You're not thinking about trying to do anything with the new girl are you? Kinda moving fast aren't you?" I grabbed a few pillows out of the closet while Tifa grabbed blankets and sheets.

"I'm keeping an eye on her. Something about her makes me stay on the side of cautious." I ignored Tifa's comments about me just making up an excuse and helped her make the beds in the guest room. She grabbed some spare clothes and placed them on the bed as well. Once we finished, Tifa walked off to go tell Courtney the room was ready and what not. I sat on the windowsill, and looked up in the sky. The storm hadn't let up at all and surprisingly the power hadn't gone out either. My mind wandered where it normally went whenever I was alone...

Even though I forgave myself for my past sins, I still had this ping of guilt in the pit of my stomach for some reason. I couldn't figure out what it was, or why it was there. Staring off into space, I could heard her voice as if she were standing in the same room as I. I looked around and didn't see anybody, but I knew she could hear me.

"Lucrecia."

_"Vincent, I forgave you. And you've finally forgiven yourself, so why all this guilt? Just let it go."_

"It's not that easy..." I took and deep breath, and waited for her answer. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and looked at the door to see Courtney walk in just after Lucrecia said:

_"It's easier than you think..."_

**Courtney**

"Oh, Vincent! I didn't know you were already in here. Tifa said that this was the only room cleaned up, so yeah..." I felt so awkward talking to him, but I knew that I needed to focus on finding my friends, and figuring out what was going on. Vincent nodded and I gathered the clothes off the bed and headed to the shower that I had passed on the way up. All I wanted to do was go back outside and look around for Chandler and Chris, but with the storm still raging on outside, I knew that it was smarter to wait until it cleared up. If I died, who would go look for my friends? I pondered the thought of where they were at while I was in the shower.

After soaking for a few minutes, I turned off the water and quickly dried off, putting my hair into a french braid, and walked out of the bathroom. Somebody, most likely Tifa, had grabbed my clothes while I was lost in thought. I walked back into the guest room to see Vincent in a pair of black sweat pants and a black turtle neck.

"I didn't know you wore anything else but your outfit from earlier." I stated before I realized just how weird my comment must have been. Vincent looked at me darkly, and walked over to the window to close the blinds.

"Tifa insisted she clean my clothes for me since they were wet." I nodded and fiddled with the many bracelets I had on my arms, the awkwardness in the room was thick enough to slice with a butter knife. Vincent started to walk over to me, and I froze in place, partly from inner fan girl-dom, partly because I had no clue what he was doing. He stopped right in front of me, and looked into my eyes for a moment. I held my breath as I looked back into his eyes, too stunned to move, too afraid to not look. My cheeks burned a crimson red, and I cursed at myself for being too much of an open book. His facial expression didn't change, and he turned away, walking over to his bed and pulled back the sheets. I let out the breath I was holding and walked over to my bed. Snuggling under the covers, I wondered how my friends were doing. Despite all the action and excitement I had gone through in the past few hours, I was really missing my friends and upset that they were missing. A tear leaked out of my eye as I fell asleep, my emotions totally fried for one day.

_~~I wandered in an unknown forest, in an unknown world. I heard children laughing and playing. I followed those sounds to a clearing, where a whole village of people were living. They were dressed funny, and I realized that I was dressed the same as them. A girl walked up to me, and held out her hand. "Come on, Mai, we're about to dance!" I held the girls hand and let her lead me towards the center of town, where the kids were all gathering to dance. I heard music start playing, a joyous tune made from basic instruments and I started dancing. I didn't know the dance, but apparently my body knew it and was swaying back and forth to the music. An old man in dress similar to that of a spiritual shaman or somebody equal, and I stopped dancing, though everybody else around me continued to dance. I felt my body tingle and I noticed I started glowing a bluish-green as I started to fade from reality. As I started to panic, I heard the old man speak in my head. "Mai, everything will be alright. You are the hope of our people. Continue to live, and remember that life knows no bounds as we live, nor when we die. So make the life you're given the best that you can. Farewell, my child, and I hope we meet again." The world faded away as I felt my spirit enter the lifestream, and left this realm for another...~~_


End file.
